


Where the Wild Things Make Sense

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Curse Breaking, Curses, Fairy Tale Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23701927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: When Magnus finds a wooden figure in the woods with familiar magic, he finds himself unexpectedly entangled in the life of a mortal he never even met before.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 31
Kudos: 185
Collections: SHBingo





	Where the Wild Things Make Sense

**Author's Note:**

> For my Shadowhunters Bingo square: Ritual 
> 
> Based on [this photo](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/444326588620865547/688394022766772309/paw2bcm06mm41.jpg) a friend sent me (which I know was attached to a Tumblr post I can't find for the life of me now :( ) .

Magnus is only meant to be passing through this part of his journey back to his father’s realm. His magic is running low so he’s conserving it for now, deciding to walk rather than portal which is the only reason he sees the figure in the woods. It looks like it’s made of twigs and branches, the form of an archer with a bow raised and arrow drawn. It looks as if it grew out of the very ground beneath it. A guardian spirit of the woods, perhaps? A shrine of sorts? 

It pulls to Magnus, drawing him near, and he can feel something familiar about it. He can sense magic, though it’s heavily veiled, just the slightest hint of it calling out to him. 

“Who are you?” he asks, circling the figure. 

He doesn’t get a response, but he does hear the sounds of a town nearby and wonders if the people there will have an answer instead. He’s only meant to be passing through… but a quick stop won’t do any harm, right? 

\--- 

Magnus finds the local bard more than willing to tell him all about Alexander Lightwood, the brother of the town’s weapons smith, who was cursed and turned into the figure Magnus came across in the woods. 

“The man who did it said that it was to keep something from happening in his future… that it was foretold Alec’s very existence would turn his son against him and bring about the warlock’s downfall. So he put a curse on him to remain in that form.”

A curse of that nature… it’s powerful. Magnus knows because it’s something he’s capable of himself. Someone else hears Simon talking and comes over with a story of how this Alexander put himself in front of a wild wolf to protect a child who wandered too far from town on her own, and another chimes in with a recollection of a time Alec stayed up for days on end when illness hit the village to make sure no family was without food or medicine. 

It seems like the loss of this one man hit the village hard. “How long ago did it happen?” 

“Eleven months, 2 weeks, and 4 days ago.” 

The answer is immediate, coming from a blonde man in the corner who remained silent until now. A strange hush falls over the crowd that, up until that point, had been so caught up in their memories they didn’t seem to notice him arrive.

The small crowd disperses quickly as the blonde comes over to them. 

“You know,” he says. “Alec would hate people talking about him like this.” 

“Sorry,” Magnus says. 

“He never wanted attention. He did what was right, and that’s it. He never asked for thanks. He wasn’t a hero. He was just… Alec.”

The blonde leaves and Simon lets out a long sigh next to Magnus. “That’s Jace, Alec’s brother. He was out with him the day it happened. Always blamed himself for not being able to save him.” 

Magnus hums to himself, finishing his drink and tossing a coin onto the table as he gets up to leave. Perhaps that’s enough prying for one night. 

\--- 

He’s only halfway to the inn when a form steps out in front of him, blocking his path. It doesn’t take him long to recognize it as Jace. 

“What are you doing here?” Jace asks. 

“Just passing through,” Magnus says. 

“Are you a warlock?” Jace demands. 

Magnus considers lying. Warlocks are clearly not Jace’s favorite for obvious reasons, but Magnus gets the feeling that if he’s caught in that lie it’d be worse than telling the truth outright. 

“Yes,” he admits slowly. “I am.” 

“You look an awful lot like the one who cursed my brother.” It’s as much an observation as it is an accusation. 

“You think if I cursed your brother I’d show back up to ask questions about him?” Magnus isn’t sure what Jace is aiming at here. 

“No. I just… if you know who it was. If you’re _protecting_ them…” 

“I don’t,” Magnus says, but even as the words leave his mouth he realizes that isn’t entirely true. He doesn’t know, not for certain, but if it was a warlock who looked like Magnus, cursing someone to protect his own legacy… he might have an idea, but he isn’t about to say it out loud. Not until he’s certain. 

“I promise I don’t mean you or your town any harm,” Magnus swears. “But if you want me to leave, I will.” 

Jace looks him up and down. “You can leave in the morning.” It isn’t a suggestion. 

Magnus nods. “Thank you. And for what it’s worth, I truly am sorry about your brother.” 

“Me too,” Jace says before leaving back towards the tavern, leaving Magnus with a lot to consider during what ends up being a restless night. 

\--- 

Magnus wakes up in the morning with every intention of leaving. He doesn’t know these people. He doesn’t owe them anything. He has an entire Kingdom waiting for him, a life of power and wealth when he returns to his father’s realm from his time studying abroad. He knows that his father is ruthless in battle and that he can be cruel... but surely he isn’t cruel enough to take the life of an innocent over some nonsense prophecy?

He takes his bag and walks back out of town the same way he came… past the figure he now knows to be Alexander Lightwood in the woods. He should continue to walk past it. He should leave it behind and not look back. 

But he can’t. 

Magnus turns towards the twisting wood, running his fingers gently over the curves that make up the shoulder, the ones that twist their way down his back. “It wasn’t you that felt familiar,” Magnus mutters to no one in particular. “It was the magic that made you this way.” Now that he knows what he’s looking for Magnus senses it almost immediately. The sort of magic that could bind someone permanently like this… it wasn’t just everyday magic. This took years of practice. This was _dark_ magic, the very kind he’d sworn off during his time away from home with the realization that there were other options. 

“I believe you were told to leave, Warlock.” 

The words come from a female with black hair and fierce eyes which narrow at him as her hands go to rest on the hilt of a blade at her hip. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Magnus says, eyeing the weapon. “Isabelle, I’m guessing?” 

“Please,” she says. “Spare us any more pain and just go.” 

“What if,” Magnus starts slowly. “What if I can help him?” 

“The warlock told Jace the spell was bound by blood,” Isabelle says, shaking her head. 

“Yes,” Magnus agrees. “And if my suspicion is correct, then my blood should work just as well as my father’s to counter the curse.” 

A look of realization dawns on Isabelle at that, and the weapon is drawn now, raised at him though she makes no move forward. 

“I told you that won’t be necessary,” Magnus repeats. “If my father is the warlock behind this, I can find a way to undo it. If you’ll let me, I’d like to stay and try.” 

“As if I’d let you leave now,” Isabelle huffs. “Let’s go.” 

\---

Magnus knows the other implications of the warlock behind Alexander’s curse being his father - that means that, somehow, Asmodus had it in his head that Alec would corrupt Magnus leading to Asmodeus’ downfall. That his own fate is so closely intertwined with that of a mortal he’s never met before… It’s a lot, even for Magnus, but if this is even indirectly his fault then he owes it to the people here to try and help. 

Under very close watch, most often by Jace or Isabelle, Magnus is allowed to brew small batches of potions to try on Alexander’s form and to try and pull energy from him to better pinpoint exactly what was done to leave him like that. Magnus questions Jace as much as Jace questions him, trying to get any detail from the day this happened that might help him narrow down the wide variety of magic that might’ve been used. 

The longer he remains in the town the closer he grows to not only Jace and Isabelle but so many others. Simon, Clary and her mother Jocelyn, Alexander’s mother Maryse and youngest sibling Max. 

It’s entirely accidental when Magnus gets the breakthrough he needs - cutting his finger on a weathered section of wood, a drop of his blood falls onto some of the wood at the base of Alexander’s figure. Magnus watches as the wood _reacts_ to it, opening themselves where it touched, moving out towards the blood, before closing again around it. 

Of course. Magnus lets out a sharp, derisive laugh. 

“What’s so funny?” Jace asks with narrowed eyes. 

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If my father never did this… I would’ve passed by this place without a second thought. I never would’ve stopped. I never would’ve asked questions. I never would’ve gotten invested in the lives of people I have no business caring about.” 

“What are you talking about?” Jace asks. 

“What causes my father’s ruin is going to be the very act he performed to prevent it. I think I know how to free your brother. But I need to prepare something first.” 

\---

Magnus holds a jar of blood and a handwritten letter, one in each hand, as he stands before Jace and Isabelle. 

“I know a ritual that I believe will bring Alexander back,” Magnus begins. “But it’s a ritual of transference.” 

“What does that mean?” Isabelle asks. 

“It means it doesn’t break the curse, it only transfers it to someone else,” Magnus admits. He watches the uneasy look that the two siblings share over the idea that Alexander can be freed but at the cost of someone else’s entrapment.

“I’ll-” Jace immediately begins to volunteer, but Magnus holds a hand up to stop him. 

“I’m going to do it,” Magnus says the words to the surprise of everyone, even a little bit himself because up until that moment he hadn’t been sure he wouldn’t take the inevitable offer from Jace or Isabelle he correctly anticipated. “Under one condition.” 

He doesn’t fault them for the skeptical looks he receives. “What?” 

“Give this to Alexander when he’s back.” Magnus holds out the jar and parchment. “It’s everything he’ll need to break the curse completely and release me.” 

Jace steps forward to take both objects from Magnus, immediately opening the parchment to skim its contents. 

“Why not do it yourself?” He asks, holding up the instructions. 

“Because once someone is under this curse for more than a full year the petrification is permanent, and they’re trapped in this form for eternity. And by your recollection, if it is accurate, that only leaves us-” 

“Until tomorrow,” Jace breaths out, eyes wide with horror at how close they came to nearly losing Alexander forever. 

Magnus nods. “So once the ritual is complete I have a year for Alexander to break the curse.” 

“And what if he doesn’t? What if you free him and we leave you out here to petrify?” Isabelle questions. 

“That is a very real possibility,” Magnus agrees. “But if your Alexander is half the person this town has built him up to be, he’ll do it. I only ask you give him that and allow him the option to decide.” 

Magnus knows the risks involved - it’s part of the reason he won’t allow anyone else to take Alexander’s place but himself. Should he fail to do what needs to be done and return within the year he would never be able to forgive himself for simply trading Alexander’s life for Jace’s, even if Jace would agree. This is, after all, partially because of him. If anyone should be made to suffer for his father’s sins it should be him, it feels only right. 

Magnus begins to draw the sigils he needs on the ground, waiting until the moon begins to rise and hangs at just the right angle in the sky before he calls upon the power needed for the transference ritual. He takes out a small blade to cut a deep line into his palm, wincing as he drips the blood first over the sigils then onto the wood encasing Alexander. 

As the branches begin to retreat into the ground to reveal Alexander Lightwood’s human form again they rise up again where Magnus stands. Magnus takes very deliberate final breaths of fresh air before the stasis hits. 

He hopes he isn’t making a horrible mistake with his last conscious thought before the darkness consumes him, and everything goes black. 

\----

The first thing Magnus registers as he comes to is the very attractive pair of hazel eyes staring back at him. 

“What a gorgeous vision to behold,” Magnus says. “Are you here to rescue me, or are you an angel and I’ve died and gone to heaven?” 

The hazel eyes roll, and Magnus misses them for the moment they retreat back behind thickly lashed eyelids. 

“Perhaps I should’ve listened to Jace and let you remain cursed,” the man says. 

Magnus gasps. “And I thought we were friends,” he accuses, eyes turning to Jace. The dramatics are entirely forced, meant to cover the terrifying sense of relief he feels at the knowledge that his trust in a man he’s never met before wasn’t misplaced. 

“I didn’t say he should let you die,” Jace defends. “I simply stated it was too dangerous and that I wouldn’t go through with it if I were him.” 

“That’s the same thing as letting him die, Jace,” Isabelle points out with an elbow to his ribs. Seeing the three of them together like this feels… complete, somehow, in a way they hadn’t before. Jace and Isabelle’s smiles are easier than when he saw them last. 

“You must be Alexander,” Magnus observes. He looks down to see the last of the branches retreating back into the ground below, as well as the markings on the ground in deep crimson. “Nice to properly meet you. I must say, the stories hardly did you justice.” 

“Please tell me I didn’t go through all the trouble of saving your life just so you could _flirt_ , Magnus,” a voice chimes in from behind him and Magnus spins with a grin to see Ragnor Fell standing there, his arms crossed and his head shaking disapprovingly. 

“You’d be bored if I petrified into a tree and you know it,” Magnus huffs. “I knew you’d help him.” 

“Of course I did. But your father’s _blood_? Honestly, Magnus, is nothing ever easy with you?” 

Magnus hums as he considers his answer. “Not usually, no.” 

He turns back to Alexander. “Did you… is he…” the spell to break the curse required the blood of his father mixed with his own. It didn’t necessarily call for the person’s death, but Magnus wouldn’t be surprised if that’d been the only way. He certainly wouldn’t blame them. 

“He’s alive,” Alexander says, not looking particularly pleased about it. “But he bled enough as he fled that I could collect it for the spell.” 

“Right.” Magnus nods, not sure if he’s disappointed or relieved at the news. He certainly can’t go back now, not knowing what he does about the sort of person his father truly is. “Well then, I suppose we should get to work.” 

“What do you mean?” Alexander asks. 

“You heard the prophecy - you’re to turn me against my father and bring about his downfall. So, Alexander? What do you say?” There’s a hint of a challenge to Magnus’ tone, but it’s a friendly one, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. 

Should Alec say no and send him away, well, at least things turned out alright in the end. He’s alive, after all, and with quite the story to tell from it. But if Alec agrees… 

“How about you stay for dinner, and we can discuss the potential downfalls of kings over drinks afterward?” Alexander offers instead. 

“Drinks sound good,” Magnus agrees easily. “Breakfast sounds even better,” he adds with a suggestive wink that has Alexander flushing crimson. 

“I can turn him back into a tree-” Ragnor offers helpfully, but Alec recovers quickly and shakes his head. 

“No need,” Alec says. “I believe I can handle him from here.” Alec is already casually turning to walk back to the village as he adds over his shoulder, “I think he’ll find the breakfast at the inn he’ll be sleeping at just fine.”

Ragnor snorts at Alec’s response, and Magnus, caught off guard, watches as Alec, Jace, and Isabelle start off ahead, laughing. 

“I like that one,” Ragnor admits. 

“Yeah,” Magnus agrees, taking off after them. “Me too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


End file.
